Hand wheel position and direction indication



HAND WHEEL POSITION AND DIRECTION INDICATION Filed Sept. 16, 1955 w. A. AYRES April 1, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

:{ALDEMAR A. AYRES ATTORNEYS April 1, 1958 HAND WHEEL POSITION AND DIRECTION INDICATION Filed Sept. 16, 1955 W. A. AYRES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 n WALDEMAR A.

HAPID WHEEL POSITION AND DIRECTION INDECATION Waldemar A. Ayres, Lakewood, Ohio, assignorto White Sewing Machine Corporation, Lakewood, Ohio, a cor poration of Delaware Application September 16, 1955, Serial No. 534,633

*Clainas. (Cl. 112-226) This invention relates to a sewing machine and more particularly to a sewing machine wherein certain of the parts such as the hand wheel, needle bar drive mechanism, feed and hook mechanisms and other operative parts of the machine are provided with timing and adjustment marks utilized in the assembly or servicing of the machine to obtain proper and accurate timing cooperation and relationship between the operative parts of the machine.

An object of the invention is to provide in a sewing machine in connection with the various operating parts thereof means to facilitate the assembling and servicing of the machine and to provide correct and accurate timing cooperation and proper relationship between such operative parts.

A further object is to provide in a sewing machine means which will readily indicate to the operator when the needle is withdrawn from the cloth so the latter can be removed, when the needle is raised for easy threading, when the thread is disengaged from the hook, and the desirable position of the hook for removing or reinserting the lock ring therein.

A further object is to provide in a sewing machine means such as referred to in the last named object and which eliminates trial turning of the hand wheel and shows visually and directly which way to turn the hand wheel to effect movement of the parts of the machine to a position wherein the needle is Withdrawn from the cloth and is raised for easy threading and wherein the thread is disengaged from the hook and the latter is in position for removing or reinserting the locking ring therein.

A still further object of the invention is to provide in a sewing machine direction indicating means on the hand wheel of the machine and which means visually shows the direction for manually turning the hand wheel to cause slow operation of the parts of the sewing machine in the normal forward sewing direction.

A further object is to provide in a sewing machine means such as referred to in the last named object and wherein there is provided in combination with such means an arrangement for indicating when the hand wheel is in the so-called home position at which time the needle is withdrawn from the cloth and is raised for easy threading while the thread is disengaged from the hook and the latter is in position for removing therefrom or reinserting therein the locking ring.

Further and additional objects and advantages not hereinbefore specified will become apparent hereinafter during the detailed description of an embodiment of the invention which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification and wherein,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front elevational view of a sewing machine head with the enclosing casing omitted so as to show certain of the operative parts.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of Fig. 1.

2,828,708 Patented Apr. 1, 1958 Fig. 3 is a detached detail perspective of a part or element shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and

Fig. 4 is a schematic illustration of the operative parts of the sewing machine showing the interconnected drives to the reciprocating needle bar in the sewing machine head and to the feed and hook mechanisms located below the bed plate of the sewing machine and cooperating with the reciprocating needle to produce the sewing function.

In the drawings the supporting frame of the sewing machine head is indicated at 15, it being understood that this supporting frame is enclosed in an outer casing which need not be shown herein.

The bed plate of the sewing machine is indicated at is while in Fig. 4 a supporting structure 17 for the feed and hook mechanisms below the bed plate 16 is indicated.

The operating parts of the sewing machine are driven from an electric motor 18 mounted in the supporting frame 15 in a vertical position and having a spindle extending outwardly of both ends of the motor casing with the upper end of the spindle having fixed thereto a drive pulley 19 while the'lower end of the spindle mounts a portion 24} of a motor speed controller which may be that shown and described in my copending application Serial No. 435,010, filed June 4, 1954.

The pulley 19 is operatively connected to a pulley 21 by a drive belt 22. The pulley 21 is fixed or keyed to a vertical shaft 23 rotatably mounted in the supporting frame of the sewing machine and extending downwardly to beneath the bed plate 16. The shaft 23 above the pulley Zll has fixed or keyed to it a toothed pulley 24 which is operatively connected to a toothed pulley 25 by a toothed non-slipping, non-stretching timing belt 26. The toothed pulley 25 is fixed or keyed to the upper end of a vertical drive shaft 27 rotatably supported in the supporting frame 15 and having fixed thereto oppositely phased driving elements 28 and 29 for actuating the reciprocating needle bar 30 and a reciprocating counterbalancing element, not shown, all as disclosed and described in my copending application Serial No. 477,782, filed December 27, 1954, now Patent No. 2,781,011.

As in said copending application Serial No. 477,782 a hand wheel 31 is fixed to the shaft 27 and to the pulley 25 above the latter and is concentric to said shaft and pulley. The hand wheel 31 is so located that when the outer casing for the head is in position to enclose the supporting frame 15 the hand wheel will be located relative to the top of the casing in a position wherein the operator may with facility rotate the same when it is so desired.

It will be understood that the supporting frame 15 is provided with suitable openings to accommodate the traveling timing belt 26. The lower end of the shaft 27 has fixed thereto a rotary upper thread take-up indicated generally at 32 and as described in my said copending ap plication Serial No. 477,782. The sewing machine head adjacent to the needle bar 30 is provided with the usual vertical presser foot rod 33 mounting on its lower end a presser foot 34-.

The shaft 23 below the bed plate 16 has fixed to its end a toothed pulley 35 and said pulley 35 is operatively connected to a large toothed pulley 36 and to a small toothed pulley 37 fixed to vertically extending shafts 38 and 39 respectively. The operative connection between the pulley 35 and the pulleys 36 and 37 is a toothed timing belt 46 which meshes with the teeth of the pulley 36 at diametrically opposite sides of the pulley and which extends around the pulley 37 as indicated in Fig. 4. The shaft 38 operates the feed mechanism, not shown, while the shaft 39 operates the rotary hook mechanism that carries the lower thread and which cooperates with the upper thread carried by the needle 41 secured in the lower end of the needle bar as will be well understood in the art.

It is necessary for eflicient and accurate operation of a sewing machine that the various operative parts of the machine mounted in the head and below the bed he in accurate timed relation to each other. In assembling the sewing machine during manufacture thereof or in reassembling the same after the servicing of the machine it is difiicult and time consuming to get the operative parts in the proper relationship. In the present invention provision is made to facilitate the obtainance of this proper relationship so that the sewing machine will function efficiently, correctly and accurately.

The hand wheel 31 is secured to the shaft 27 and the pulley 25 by a screw or other securing means 42 and is located relative to the pulley 25 by a series of predeterminedly spaced pins 43 carried by the upper flange of the pulley 25 and engaging in recesses formed in the hand wheel 31. The pins 43 and the recesses in the hand wheel are so arranged that the hand wheel always must have correct assembled relationship to the pulley 25. The rim of the hand wheel 31 is provided with a locating dot or marker 44 which cooperates with a pointer 45 extending vertically and formed on the end ofa bracket 46 that is secured to the supporting frame 15.

In assembling the hand wheel and the pulley 25 on the shaft 27 the pulley 25 is keyed to said shaft and then with the hand wheel assembled on the pulley the assetubly is turned until the pointer 45 registers with the marker 44 on the hand wheel 31. Then the drive elements 28, 29 are adjusted on the shaft 27 until they are in the position they occupy when the needle bar 39 is in its raised position, after which said elements are secured to the shaft 27 in properly adjusted position by setscrews 47, after which they may be locked to the shaft by pins 48 driven into bores formed in the hubs of the elements 28 and 29 and in the shaft 27.

The rotatable thread take-up 32 is adjusted on the lower end of the shaft 27 to the proper position it should have whenthe needle bar is in its raised position and then is secured in proper adjusted position by an arrangement not shown herein, but which is disclosed, described and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 523,460,

filed July 21, 1955.

The pulleys 21 and 24 are keyed to the shaft 23 to have the proper driving relationship through the belt 26 with the pulley 25. The pulleys 35 and 37 are loose on the shafts 23 and 39, while the pulley 36 is keyed to the shaft 38. The pulleys 35 and 37 are temporarily fixed to their respective shafts by setscrews 53 and 55 and then hand wheel 31 is turned manually until the drive belt 40 has turned the pulley 36 into a position wherein a marker line 49 on the periphery of the lower flange of the pulley registers with the marker line 50 formed on the supporting structure 17 and pointer 45 reg1sters with spot 44 on the hand wheel 31. If such manual movement of the pulley 35 effects registration also between a marker spot 51 on the upper flange of the pulley 37 with a marker spot 52 on the supporting structure 17 the pulleys 36 and 37 are in proper relationship. However, if the spots 51 and 52 are not properly aligned then the shaft 39 and pulley 37 are rotated independently of the pulleys 35 and 36 and belt 40 until such alignment is effected. When this has been done the pulley 35 is secured tightly to the shaft 23 by the setscrew 53 and is then locked to said shaft by drilling a hole through the hub of the pulley and into the shaft 23 and driving a locking pin 54 therein.

Also the pulley 37 is now finally secured to the shaft 39 in its properly adjusted position by tightening the setscrew 55 and then by driving a locking pin 56 into holes formed in the hunb of the pulley 37 and in the shaft39.

It will thus be seen that all of the operative parts are assembled and secured in position in the proper relationship they should have when the mark 44 on the hand wheel 31 is in alignment with the pointer 45 and when the needle bar is in upper position wherein the needle would be withdrawn from the cloth and located for easy threading and also when the thread is disengaged from the hook and the latter is in position for removing or reinserting the locking ring therein.

The hand wheel 31 is provided with directionindication arrows 57, two such arrows being shown and indicating the direction of rotation of the hand wheel for forward sewing. If the hand wheel is of transparent material the arrows may be formed on the bottom side of the hand wheel or on a paper disk mounted between the hand wheel and the toothed gear or sprocket 25.

If the hand wheel is of opaque material the arrows may be engraved, embossed or otherwise formed on the outer surface or top of the hand wheel. The arrows may be formed in the material of the hand wheel by cutting therein representations of the arrows and then filling the cutouts with material providing a color contrast tc the color of the hand wheel.

When the hand wheel is stopped in a position wherein the mark 44 is not visible to the operator then the operator can turn the hand wheel 31 in the direction indicated by the arrows until the spot or mark 44 coincides with the pointer 45. On the other hand, if the mark 44 is visible to the operator but does not coincide with the pointer 45 then the operator may turn the hand wheel in the direction which will bring the mark 44 into alignment with the pointer 45 with the last turning movement.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described herein, it will be understood that the invention is susceptible of various modifications and adaptations within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a sewing machine, a bed, a head mounted on said bed and having therein a vertically reciprocable needle bar, a vertical rotatable drive shaft in said head adjacent said needle bar and having a drive element fixed thereto, operative connections between said bar and shaft, a supporting structure beneath said bed, feed mechanism carried by said structure and including a vertical rotatable feed shaft having a drive element fixed thereto, a hook mechanism carried by said structure and including a vertically rotatable hook shaft having a drive element fixed thereto, means for actuating all of said drive elements in timed relationship, a hand wheel secured to said drive shaft at the top of the head in a position visible and accessible to the operator from a normal operating position at the front side of the sewing machine, said hand wheel and said head being provided with cooperating position indicating means which align when the needle bar is in an upper position wherein the needle carried thereby is removed from the work material and is in a position to be readily threaded, said drive elements on said feed and hook shafts and said supporting structure being provided with cooperating position indicating means which should align when the position indicating means on the hand wheel and head are in alignment and when the hook of the hook mechanism is disengaged from the thread, whereby the assembly of the operative parts of the sewing machine is facilitated.

2. In a sewing machine as defined in claim 1 and wherein the operative connections between the needle bar and the drive shaft are adjustable relative to said drive shaft so that the needle bar will be in its said upper po sition when the cooperating position indicating means on the hand wheel and head are in alignment.

3. In a sewing machine as defined in claim 2 and wherein the drive element on the hook shaft of the hook mechanism can be adjustably relatively positioned and secured t sa d Sha that the cooperating position indicating means on said element and said supporting structure will be in alignment when the hook of the mechanism has released the lower thread.

4. In a sewing machine, a head mounting a vertically reciprocable needle bar, a vertical drive shaft in said head adjacent said needle bar, operative connections between said bar and shaft, means for actuating said shaft including a drive element fixed to said shaft and provided on its upper side with a plurality of upwardly extending predeterminedly spaced locating pins, a hand wheel secured to said shaft at the top of the head in a position visible and accessible to the operator from a normal operating position at the front side of the sewing machine and provided with an opening interfitting the upper end of said shaft and with a plurality of recesses spaced in accordance with the spacing of said pins and receiving the latter whereby said hand wheel must always be positioned on said shaft in a predetermined relationship to said element, said hand wheel and said head being provided with cooperating position indicating means which align when the needle bar is in an upper position wherein the needle carried thereby is removed from the work material and is in a position to be readily threaded.

5. In a sewing machine as defined in claim 4 and wherein the cooperating position indicating means of the said hand wheel and said head include a reference mark formed on the rim of the hand wheel and a bracket secured to said head and having an upwardly extending pointer adapted to cooperate with said reference mark.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS,

1,407,367 Bailey Feb. 21, 1922 2,178,183 Mueller Oct. 31, 1939 FOREEGN PATENTS 832,843 Germany Feb. 28, 1952 

